So, remember the “handler” everyone was talking about, who “talked down” Hillary during a speech where she froze and appears to travel with some sort of epi-pen like device on him at all times? This guy has jumped on stage, patted her back and told her “to keep talking.”

Some people have speculated he is a Secret Service agent, however, former Secret Service agents have stated that they would NEVER physically touch a candidate who was under their protection like that, especially Hillary Clinton.

It is also widely reported on Hillary’s disdain for the Secret Service agents who work to protect her. The man who touched Hillary may be a member of Hillary’s close staff – but it is doubtful that he is a Secret Service agent.

This guy had been widely seen on TV helping her on many occasions until the internet started to take notice and question it. Then he sort of faded into the background, until the other day, when he showed up on camera on her fancy, schmancy new plane when she was having another coughing fit.

Some have speculated that he may be Dr. Oladotun A. Okunola, a neurologist from NJ, who handles conditions such as brain disease, coma, memory disorders, and other neurological disorders.

Outlets, such as Snopes, who by the way is so in the bag for Hillary it’s not even funny, have debunked it by showing a pic of the doctor from his practice website, next to the man who travels with her now. The are saying they look nothing alike. But, I’m not sure if I buy that, because the picture online is of a much younger man, for sure, and his bio seems to put him at a much older age.

As a matter of fact, the picture is pulled from a press release of sorts, circa 2001, announcing he had joined the Neuroscience Center of North New Jersey, having completed his internship and residency in Washington DC at Howard University Hospital.

A cursory internet search came up with the fact that the doctor in question graduated from Howard University College of Medicine in 2001. Assuming he went straight to college out of high school at 18, know he has 4 years of college and then 4 years of medical school, followed by what, 2 years of specialized medicine in neurology, that would make him about 28-32 at the time, right? So, that means he would be about 43-47 now.

The age seems to fit the man traveling with her. I know what I looked like at 28 is nothing like how I look now and without giving away my age, I will say I am in the ballpark of the good doctor.

I WISH I looked like I did at 28, but the reality is I don’t. So I think Snopes argument is false. But, you can decide that one for yourself, but Snopes argument that the man in the picture is younger doesn’t hold water since the picture is like 15+ years old itself. SMH.

Of course, no one – and I mean no one, including FOX, who I can’t stomach much anymore – is reporting much on this. It is looking more and more like she travels with her own personal doctor and no one seems to be concerned to me. Here the left was all up in arms over McCain’s age when he ran, and no one, left or right, is saying much about this at all.

A few have dared say something and been shut down right away. There has been speculation going on about this for years now among the “conspiracy theory” blogging set, as the left likes to call them, who incidentally are on the money on this one, in my opinion. So, it’s not like it’s something new.

“I don’t think he’s Secret Service. He is a medical guy dressed to look like a SSA.” https://t.co/et8HGcxJsV

— Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) August 6, 2016

Last July, she was given a “clean bill of health” by her real/then “personal physician,” Dr. Lisa Bardack, who said she doesn’t smoke or use tobacco, drinks alcohol in moderation, eats right and exercises. Um…if Dr. Bardack is her “personal physician,” why isn’t she traveling with her instead of a neurologist?

To this day, according to some inside sources in the few news accounts, I have read, Hillary suffers from exhaustion, insomnia, a tremor in her hands and blinding headaches. Oh, and let’s not forget she also had problems keeping her balance, has come to near collapse, and often loses her train of thought. These things we have seen with our own eyes while she is on the campaign trail.

Some news outlets who have said a little bit about her health have reported this is why she travels with a “personal physician.” Come on! We aren’t talking about a “personal physician” here – we are talking about a PERSONAL NEUROLOGIST! Folks, a personal physician is one thing (although I would venture to say most candidates for president have not traveled with one), but we are talking about a specialist in disorders of the brain! BIG DIFFERENCE!

If you recall, Huma Abedin has admitted on State Department emails that Hillary is sick and “often confused.” And, according to those involved in her campaign, Huma often orders campaign aides to change her schedule with little notice so she can take the time to rest. She shows up at events up to two hours late – I assume because she is resting or otherwise indisposed due to her health.

And yet, no one is doing any serious reporting on this. Sure a few quips here and there, but where is the investigative journalism? It didn’t take much to come up with a wealth of information on her “personal physician” and put tow and two together.

Since she is running to what is possibly the most difficult job in the world don’t you think the American people have a right to know about these things?

UPDATE: Since this was originally posted it has been revealed that her “handler” is long-time Secret Service agent Todd Madison. My question is why did it take so long for that to come out? I mean people have been questioning it for a couple of months now, when it got really heated he seems to disappear, and then when he shows back up on the scene he has an actual name? Why didn’t they just say so in the first place? 

Friday wraps it up with the best line ever:
“Don’t try to build a new country. Make this one work. “

Don’t think you have a corner on all the virtue vision in the country or that everyone else is fat and selfish and yours is the first generation to come along that’s felt dissatisfied – they all have, you know, about different things; and most of them didn’t have the opportunity and freedoms that you have.

Let’s talk poverty. In most parts of the world, that’s not a problem, it’s a way of life. And rights? They’re liable to give you a blank stare because they may not know what you’re talking about.

The fact is, more people are living better right here than anyone else ever before in history. So don’t expect us to roll over and play dead when you say you’re dissatisfied. It’s not perfect, but it’s a great deal better than when we grew up: a hundred men standing in the street hoping for one job; selling apples on the street corner – that’s one of the things we were dissatisfied about; and you don’t see that much anymore.

You’re taller, stronger, healthier, and you live longer than the last generation; and we don’t think that’s altogether bad. You’ve probably never seen a ‘Quarantine’ sign on a neighbor’s door. Diphtheria, scarlet fever, whooping cough – probably none of your classmates are crippled with polio. You don’t see many mastoid scars anymore.

We’ve done quite a bit of fighting all around the world. Whether you think it was moral or not a lot of people are free to make their own mistakes today because of it. And that may just include you.

I don’t know; maybe part of it’s the fact that you’re in a hurry. You’ve grown up on instant orange juice. Flip a dial – instant entertainment. Dial seven digits – instant communication. Turn a key – push a pedal-instant transportation. Flash a card – instant money. Shove in a problem – push a few buttons – instant answers. But some problems you can’t get quick answers for, no matter how much you want them.

We took a little boy into Central Receiving Hospital yesterday; he’s four years old. He weighs eight-and-a-half pounds. His parents just hadn’t bothered to feed him. Now give me a fast answer to that one–one that’ll stop that from ever happening again.

And if you can’t settle that one, how about the 55,000 Americans who’ll die on the highway this year? That’s nearly six or seven times the number that’ll get killed in Vietnam. Why aren’t you up in arms about that? Or is dying in a car somehow moral?

Show me how to wipe out prejudice. I’ll settle for the prejudices you have inside yourselves. Show me how to get rid of the unlimited capacity for human beings to make themselves believe they’re somehow right – and justified – in stealing from somebody, or hurting somebody…and you’ll just about put this place here out of business!

Don’t think we’re telling you to lose your ideals or your sense of outrage. They’re the only way things ever get done. And there’s a lot more that still needs doing. And we hope you’ll tackle it.

You don’t have to do anything dramatic like coming up with a better country. You can find enough to keep you busy right here.

In the meantime, don’t break things up in the name of progress or crack a placard stick over someone’s head to make him see the light. Be careful of his rights. Because your property and your person and your rights aren’t any better than his. And the next time you may be the one to get it. We remember a man who killed six million people and called it social improvement.

Don’t try to build a new country. Make this one work. It has for over four hundred years; and by the world’s standards, that’s hardly more than yesterday.

Wow. I could just eat that speech up! I am in love with Joe Friday’s and Bill Gannon’s words here!

I really had high hopes for Trump. I really did want to like him. I really liked the issues he was bringing up and his aversion to being “PC.” I was intrigued by him as a presidential contender.

But, when you get down to the core of things, The Donald is far from conservative and really not all that far removed from President Obama in the way he acts and treats others.

On The Issues – Now, Not In The Past

I am the first to admit that people’s views on things change over time. They mature and grow, and so do their positions. Goodness knows I do not hold the same views I did 10 years ago or 20 years ago. I have lived life more. I see things differently. My views on certain subjects have changed – some drastically. It’s called being human and growing up.

So, when someone says a candidate did this 10 years ago, or said that 20 years ago, I totally get that their views could be different now. That being said, let’s concentrate on things that Trump did and said, not 10 or 20 years ago, but more recently. Like in the past few months. That’s pretty darn recent. That’s a true test of where he stands at this point and time.

And, one doesn’t have to go far to get an idea of where he stands on certain issues. Just last Thursday night, at the first Republican Primary Debate, millions of people got a front row seat to both his temperament and his views on politics.

Influencing Politicians

He stood on that stage, less than a week ago, and freely admitted to buying politicians over the last several decades. The idea that he “bought” them in order to come to his wedding is preposterous, and everyone knows it. Yet, Trump supporters are willing to overlook this little fact.

Come on, people. We all know he was buying favors and concessions from politicians, not a wedding guest list. He is a businessman and he needs certain policies to go in his favor. You know that’s what goes on up there, as wrong as it is, and so does he.

During the debate he said:

I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me.

Then he goes on to say that makes for a broken system. Whether he now thinks it’s broken or not, it’s a system that he obviously has no problem exploiting and using to his benefit, as long as it’s in place.

What does that say about him as a person? Obviously no moral confliction there if he does it because everyone else does.

So what if he has his own money and “can’t be bought,” as both he and his supporters likes to say. Doesn’t that just mean if he gets in office it will be him who is king?

If anyone thinks narcissistic, blowhard, media savvy Donald Trump isn’t in this for the power, but rather for the good of the “little people,” they are blinded by the reality TV show he has going on across America called “Trump for President.”

Health Care

He still thinks the idea of a single-payer health care system is a good one. This is a position he has had since 2000. Yeah, I get that was 15 years ago, but the thing is, he still believes that it works. He thinks that it works in Canada and he thinks that it works in Scotland. Just last Thursday night, when asked by Bret Baier at the debate about it, he said:

As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age, which is the age you’re talking about here. What I’d like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state. Get rid of the artificial lines and you will have yourself great plans. And then we have to take care of the people that can’t take care of themselves. And I will do that through a different system.

The problem is, single-payer in Canada isn’t working. According to a study done by the Fraser Institute on wait times in Canada for healthcare, it found people waited on average 18.2 weeks (that’s over 4 months, people!) to see a specialist after seeing a general practitioner. Wait times like that can mean the difference of life and death for some patients and some conditions.

Regarding Scotland, which also has a single-payer system, Avik Roy of Forbes wrote that if you are diagnosed with breast cancer in the U.S., you have an 84% chance of living for five years. In Scotland, it’s 71%. Colon cancer patients in the U.S. have a 60% change of surviving five years. In Scotland, it’s 46%. Prostate cancer? U.S. 92% and Scotland 48%.

But, Trump still states that he thinks it works for them. On what planet do these numbers show that it is working for them?

Abortion and Planned Parenthood

I am still not sure just where he stands on Planned Parenthood, the purveyors of abortion on demand and baby body part sales meisters.

I know in the past he was pro-choice and has more recently flipped his position, to a certain degree, on that. Was that for political expediency or because he truly believes it? I have a hard time believing the latter, but I will give him the benefit of the doubt.

In July he made a statement to Dana Loesch, in an interview with The Blaze, where he said Planned Parenthood should be defunded.

But, less than 24 hours ago, he backed off his earlier statement about defunding Planned Parenthood in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News.

He stated that Planned Parenthood “does good things that aren’t having to do with abortion” and surmised that abortions are only a small part of what they do.

So he’s against abortion now, but not against defunding the largest provider of abortion in our country.

Mmmkkkaaayyy.

But…But…He Has Good “Talking Points”

Listen, I get that people are mad. They are angry at Obama and his lame policies that have done nothing but destroy our country. They are mad at the GOP establishment that hasn’t done what they said they would do to help change things. They are angry at the liberal progressives and their never-ending barrage of political correctness and social justice BS.

They like where Trump stands on immigration and border fences. They like that he is willing to tell other countries what they will do (as if that is really going to happen). They like that he is appealing to their frustrations, when it feels like no one else is listening.

I get that, okay. I really do.

But, let’s face it, Trump is feeding into all of that anger for his own gain. Let’s not forget that’s what he does. He knows what people want to hear. He is a TV ratings superstar. He is turning the primary election into reality TV. He knows how to get ratings and he is transitioning his know-how for that into a run for the highest office in our land.

But, if you are really looking for a conservative candidate, if you are looking for a candidate that cares about the Constitution, if you are looking for a candidate that has some actual ideas on fixing this mess – instead of the same 10 talking points I have heard from Trump over and over again – you are deluding yourself in thinking Trump is the answer and the best choice to represent you.

Don’t forget that there are at least a dozen other potential candidates sharing that arena with him that fit that bill better than Trump does.

Different Party, Same Attitude

I love that he is getting people talking and fired up about issues that they need to be fired up about. I love that he has them engaged and tuning in by the millions to a TV debate. But, didn’t Obama do that too back in 2007? While I am not a liberal progressive, I remember tuning in just to see him talk. He was a “rockstar” and drew in the viewers.

But, after the show is over, Trump as President would be just like having Obama as President is. We would have another stompy-foot, cry baby sitting in the Oval Office who thinks the world revolves around them and they can do no wrong. Oh, and that everyone who doesn’t happen to share the same views as them is stupid, too.

We would have another President who thinks the media is “out to get them” and therefore says “I won’t talk to them anymore.” We have seen it from Obama, and we have now seen it from Trump.

The party in power may change, but the mentality won’t. I would much rather have a grown-up in that office myself, instead of someone who acts like a child when presented with some hard questions that fall outside of their predefined talking points or prewritten teleprompter speech.

And, frankly, if I hear the words “I’m worth a fortune. A big fortune. A tremendous fortune.” again, I think I am going to puke. We get it. You’re rich. You’re uber-rich. Get over yourself.

Sorry, Donald. You and your fortune have absolutely no idea how people like me, my family, and my friends live in the real-world. We don’t have bought and paid for politicians at our beck-and-call. I wanted to like you. I really did. But, you just aren’t really all that likable after all.

Photo by Gage Skidmore

According to their press release:

In the video, actors posing as representatives from a human biologics company meet with Farrell at the abortion-clinic headquarters of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast in Houston to discuss a potential partnership to harvest fetal organs.

“Where we probably have an edge over other organizations, our organization has been doing research for many many years,” explains Farrell. When researchers need a specific part from the aborted fetus, Farrell says, “We bake that into our contract, and our protocol, that we follow this, so we deviate from our standard in order to do that.”

Asked specifically if this means Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast can change abortion procedures to supply intact fetal specimens, Farrell affirms,“We bake that into our contract, and our protocol, that we follow this, so we deviate from our standard in order to do that.”

The investigators ask Farrell how she will frame a contract in which they pay a higher price for higher quality fetal body parts, and she replies, “We can work it out in the context of–obviously, the procedure itself is more complicated,” suggesting that “without having you cover the procedural cost” and paying for the abortion, the higher specimen price could be framed as “additional time, cost, administrative burden.”

Farrell finally summarizes her affiliate’s approach to fetal tissue payments: “If we alter our process, and we are able to obtain intact fetal cadavers, we can make it part of the budget that any dissections are this, and splitting the specimens into different shipments is this. It’s all just a matter of line items.”

The sale or purchase of human fetal tissue is a federal felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison or a fine of up to $500,000 (42 U.S.C. 289g-2). Federal law also requires that no alteration in the timing or method of abortion be done for the purposes of fetal tissue collection (42 U.S.C. 289g-1).

Farrell also indicates to the investigators over lunch that the specimen sales from her department contribute significantly to Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast’s overall finances: “I think everyone realizes, especially because my department contributes so much to the bottom line of our organization here, you know we’re one of the largest affiliates, our Research Department is the largest in the United States. Larger than any the other affiliates’ combined.” In a Texas Senate hearing on July 29, former Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast clinic director Abby Johnson estimated that the affiliate had previously made up to $120,000 per month off of aborted fetal tissue.

This is the fifth video released by The Center for Medical Progress documenting the sale of aborted baby body parts by Planned Parenthood. According to Dave Daleiden, the Project Lead:

This is now the fifth member of Planned Parenthood leadership discussing payments for aborted baby parts without any connection to actual costs of so-called tissue ‘donation.’ Planned Parenthood’s system-wide conspiracy to evade the law and make money off of aborted fetal tissue is now undeniable.

Anyone who watches these videos knows that Planned Parenthood is engaged in barbaric practices and human rights abuses that must end. There is no reason for an organization that uses illegal abortion methods to sell baby parts and commit such atrocities against humanity to still receive over $500 million each year from taxpayers.

The video just released is below:

Photo by jasoneppink

Undercover videos that recently emerged show that the organization has been selling fetal organs from both early and late-term abortions to tissue companies.

The bill to defund Planned Parenthood, after the videos were released to the public, was proposed by first-term Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), with the Obama White House strongly opposed to it.

Josh Earnest, the WH press secretary, told CNN on Monday that while he had not personally seen the videos, he believe the videos had been “selectively edited.” Of course this is despite that fact that full and unedited footage of the videos has also been released by The Center for Medical Progress, the organization behind the undercover operation.

Earnest also added in his CNN appearance, “What the President has said is that Planned Parenthood provides valuable services, health care services for men and women across the country. He would veto any legislation that tried to advance wholesale defunding for Planned Parenthood.”

The vote for cloture needed 60 votes to end debate and proceed to a vote on the defunding of the organization. It fell short of the needed 60, with a vote of 53-46, which ended largely along partisan lines.

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) crossed his party line to vote with the Democrats, while Sen. Joe Machin (D-WV) and Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN) voted on the side of the Republicans. House Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) votes with the Democrats, however this was a vote he needed to cast to keep the option open for a re-vote.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who is running in the Republican 2016 Presidential Primary, skipped the vote in order to campaign in New Hampshire, while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who were also at an event in New Hampshire that night, went back to DC in order to cast their votes.

The latest video that was released by The Center for Medical Progress shows a Planned Parenthood representative talking about “intact fetal cadavers” being nothing but “line items” and explaining about how they can manipulate the abortion process to provide more intact specimens.

Apparently, she doesn’t have an answer for that one, as she truly didn’t know what to say.

Instead of answering the direct question, which Matthews continued to press her on, she kept turning it around to, “The more important question is what is the difference between being a Democrat and being a Republican?”

Matthews continued to press her by saying, “You’re chairman of the democratic party. Tell me the difference between you and a socialist?”

Still leaving her grasping for an answer to a question that she couldn’t come up with.

And, although Matthews said he thinks there is a “huge difference,” he didn’t lay out what the difference was either.

So she can tell you the difference between a Democrat and a Republican, but not between a Democrat and a Socialist? Hmmm…that’s kind of telling, huh?

It’s pretty sad when your own party’s media propaganda machine can’t answer a simple question like this. Here’s an answer, democrat has eight letters and socialist has nine. That’s about all I got!

She never ceases to make my jaw drop when she speaks – or doesn’t speak, in this case. Watch it in all it’s glory.

@HotlineJosh @JammieWF I’m thinking addition would stump her.

— I Sing Sinatra (@Doobydoobydo) July 31, 2015

I guess the Hillary camp better get ready for this stumper.

Somebody at Hillary headquarters is scrambling to prep an answer to the “difference between a Democrat and a Socialist” stumper. — Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) July 31, 2015

Photo by DonkeyHotey

It’s a story that seems to have gotten more airtime on mainstream media outlets than the Planned Parenthood videos that were released at the same time, which show dead baby body parts being sold in a manner that would make most people’s stomachs turn.

I don’t know about a society that gets frantic over the story, sad as it is, of a dead lion halfway across the world, but chooses to ignore babies killed on a daily basis here in the U.S.

Cecil, a 13-year-old lion in Zimbabwe was killed in an organized high-dollar game hunt by Dr. Walter Palmer, 55, a Minnesota dentist. Palmer has now gone into hiding, after the outrage surrounding his story and death threats from anti-hunting and animal rights activists.

Palmer left a note for his patients that read, “I understand and respect that not everyone shares the same views on hunting.” He also added that he would “resume normal operations as soon as possible.”

Hundreds of protesters gathered Wednesday outside of his dental office with signs that said things like, “Let the hunter be hunted!”

Twitter was also bursting with people wanting to do violent things to the hunter.

I want to shoot a particular American dentist with a crossbow #CecilTheLion

— Mark Lewis (@MarkLewisLawyer) July 28, 2015

Can somebody lure the #dentist wanker from his chair and kill him with his own drill? What a total waste of oxygen! #CecilTheLion — Tessy (@TTessy) July 28, 2015

I always find it a bit odd that people who are so against killing animals have no problem issue death threats on humans, but whatevs.

They also carried signs calling him a “murderer.” These are probably the same type of people that, ironically, defend Planned Parenthood.

Absolutely disgusted that in 2015 a so called educated man would kill for fun. Let’s hope Karma gets him pretty quick! #LionLivesMatter

— Laura Featonby (@LaurasTravel) July 29, 2015

We have all this extreme outrage over Cecil’s death on social media and in the news, including Twitter hashtags that read #LionLivesMatter, but it seems like the residents of Zimbabwe are kind of oblivious to it and really don’t care all that much. To them it’s just another dead lion.

The Acting Information Minister of Zimbabwe Prisca Mupfumira was asked about the death of Cecil and responded, “What lion?”

Even though local authorities opened an investigation into whether professional guides who led the hunt followed the rules and regulations in place for such an event, the government of Zimbabwe has yet to give an official response on the matter.

Authorities in Zimbabwe have not even announced any charges against Palmer, they only say they want to speak to him. My guess is to see if their local guides broke any of their own laws regarding the way the hunt was conducted. The U.S. embassy said it was not aware of any extradition requests for the dentist either.

They have charged the hunter who supervised the hunt, Theo Bronkhorst, for killing a lion that was not authorized to be hunted. He faces up to 15 years in prison, if convicted. A second local suspect, farm owner Honest Ndlovu, was also arrested. Both are currently free on $1000 bail each.

But, it seems the people of Zimbabwe have bigger problems to deal with then Cecil, and don’t much care about another dead lion. They live under a mostly corrupt government, insane inflation and have an 80 percent unemployment rate.

Because of an economic meltdown over the last few years, many companies in the area have closed and people are out of jobs and battling water and electricity shortages. Many of the people in downtown Harare had not even heard about the lion, as they were too busy trying to deal with their own problems.

According to a story in the Minnesota Post, here are some statistics on Zimbabwe and it’s residents:

In 2012, Zimbabwe ranked 172nd out of 187 countries and territories.

Life expectancy is about 52 years — lower than it was in 1980. It has rebounded since the middle of the last decade, when it fell into the mid-40s — one of the lowest, if not the lowest in the world.

According to the U.N. agency coordinating the global fight against HIV/AIDS, there are more than half a million AIDS orphans among Zimbabwe’s roughly 15 million people. Almost 1.7 million of people between the ages of 15 and 49 are living with the disease.

Then, there’s the economy. In 2008, inflation hit 500 billion percent, and according to this report, the biggest bill printed — with a value of 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollars — wasn’t enough to get you to work and back on the bus for a week. The next year the country started using foreign currencies instead of its own.

Last month, Zimbabweans were allowed to start exchanging local currency they still held in bank accounts for a few U.S. dollars. Very few. A bank balance of 175 quadrillion Zimbabwe dollars will get you $5 U.S.

Many people of the country feel Cecil had a better overall life than they do. “Why are the Americans more concerned than us?” said Joseph Mabuwa. “We never hear them speak out when villagers are killed by lions and elephants in Hwange.”

Seems that residents of Zimbabwe actually welcome the big game hunts that Westerners come to their country to do. The high prices they pay for the privilege of doing so pumps money into their economy.

They have been debating for years about whether hunting can be justified if the fees they collect from it help fund conservation efforts that their government would not be able to afford otherwise. They also seem to feel that fewer, wealthier visitors of this type, like Palmer, actually causes less wear-and-tear on a fragile environment.

Also, large animals, such as lions, are generally seen as dangerous by locals, and if they aren’t hunted, their populations could explode and bring on increased attacks of people.

“I don’t understand the whole fuss. There are so many pressing issues in Zimbabwe — we have water shortages, no electricity and no jobs — yet people are making noise about a lion?” said Eunice Vhunise, a Harare resident. “I saw Cecil once when I visited the game park. I will probably miss him. But honestly the attention is just too much.”

“Are you saying that all this noise is about a dead lion? Lions are killed all the time in this country,” said Tryphina Kaseke, a used-clothes vendor on the streets of Harare. “What is so special about this one?”

Hey, I love animals. Anyone who knows me knows that I simply adore them. I think lions are gorgeous and I love looking at them. But, I am also bright enough to realize they are dangerous too. I am not necessarily anti-hunting, but I am not a big fan of stuffed and mounted heads on walls either.

And, please understand I am not real pleased with the manner in which this hunt was conducted and I am not defending Palmer. According to reports, the lion was lured out of a protected area by the hunters, where he was shot with a bow and suffered for 40 hours before finally being killed with a gun.

No animal, even a wild one, should suffer a slow death and there was no reason to lure an animal out of a protected area when there were other animals outside of the park that could have been hunted.

But, my question is, is this whole outrage really an outrage from the local area it affected, or is it just another way to let the anti-gun, anti-hunting animal rights activists get their voices in the news?

Or, is this outrage orchestrated in an effort to divert attention away from videos showing dead baby parts being sold by Planned Parenthood and PP officials talking about how to break the law to do so?

It sure would be great if the same people that are outraged about Cecil were as outraged about babies being butchered throughout the U.S. on a daily basis, and at the now proven fact that people are selling their little baby body parts.

The first debate, hosted by Fox News, will be held on August 6 in Cleveland. Only the top 10 candidates will be invited to participate. To make that cut the candidates must rank highest in national polls, which will leave many of them sitting the debates out and at a major disadvantage.

According the a Real Clear Politics poll, Donald Trump continues to rank the highest. He is followed by Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Senator Marco Rubio (Florida), Dr. Ben Carson and Senators Ted Cruz (Texas) and Dr. Rand Paul (Kentucky).

This leaves New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former Texas Governor Rick Perry, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, and former Senator Rick Santorum (Pennsylvania) competing for the remaining spots.

Rounding out the field of more well-known candidates, who probably won’t get a chance at a spot in this first debate, are former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee, Governor of Ohio John Kasich, former Governor of New York George Pataki, and Senator Lindsey Graham (South Carolina).

But, did you know, there are actually some much lesser known names running for the spot? They won’t get the media coverage or traction of the more famous names, but they are:

• Skip Andrews, a business owner
• George Bailey, a pastor
• Michael Bickelmeyer, who has over 40 years in the private sector
• Kerry Bowers, a former military man
• Dale Christensen, an entrepreneur and business professor
• Brooks Cullison, an Attorney and Certified Public Accountant
• John Dummett, Jr., who claims to be a Constitutional Republican who has become disenfranchised with both the Republican and Democratic parties
• Mark Everson, a businessman and former IRS Commissioner
• Jack Fellure, an engineer who has been running for President every four years since 1988
• Jim Hayden, a business owner
• Chris Hill, an airline captain and former combat pilot
• Michael Kinlaw
• K. Ross Newland, pastor and veteran
• Michael Petyo, businessman and veteran
• Brian Russell, entrepreneur
  Jefferson Sherman
• Shawna Sterling

So, who would you like to see in the Republican primary first debate? Feel free to comment below.

On Friday, Cruz accused McConnell of lying about whether he made a deal to have the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank attached to a highway legislation that senators must pass.

The Export-Import Bank, which McConnell says in public he opposes, is viewed by many conservatives as corporate welfare and crony capitalism at its worst. While it is supposed to help small businesses compete in global markets, the bank favors large, and even foreign, companies with taxpayer dollars. Authorization for the bank expired in June, and a huge and expansive lobbying effort has been underway to reauthorize it.

This past weekend, during a rare Sunday session that was called to handle the Highway Bill, which had bipartisan support, we got to see just how much McConnell really is like Reid.

Sunday’s session opened with one thing – a warning.

Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) sternly said the following, in a lengthy speech, no doubt aimed squarely at Cruz:

The chair reminds all senators of the following paragraph from Rule 19 of the Standing Rules of the Senate … ‘No senator in debate shall directly or indirectly by any form of words impute to another senator or to other senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a senator.’

We treat each other with honor, even when we feel another has perhaps not accorded us the same esteem. Squabbling and sanctimony may be tolerated on the campaign trail but not (in) here.

Cruz thanked Hatch for his speech, but also said he was merely being honest in his remarks about McConnell and the Ex-Im bank on Friday.

Cruz said on the Senate floor, “I would note that it is entirely consistent with decorum and with the nature of this body traditionally as the world’s greatest deliberative body to speak the truth.”

He said that McConnell, Hatch, and Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), didn’t dispute his claim about the Ex-Im bank in their remarks.

McConnell then used his power to block Kate’s Law, the law that would keep illegal alien criminals off the streets, and defunding Planned Parenthood, after their disastrous baby parts selling video debacle over the past few weeks, and prioritized two other bills, one which would revive the Export-Import Bank, and another to repeal Obamacare. Both had a 60 vote threshold.

McConnell used a procedure known as “Filling the Tree,” which allows the number of amendments to a bill to be limited by the majority leader, who controls the process, crowding everyone else out. It was used often by Democrat Reid to block Republicans from being able to offer amendments to Democratic bills.

Despite the fact that McConnell ran, and was reelected to his seat, based on returning the Senate to regular order, after being tightly controlled by the Democrats for years, now he is using the same tactic against his own party. He decided last week that he would only allow two amendments to the bill – a repeal of Obamacare (which he knew wouldn’t pass) and the Ex-Im Bank reauthorization – while blocking all others.

On Friday Cruz blasted the leader by saying, “There are hosts of amendments that the American people are focused on, things like defunding Planned Parenthood after the gruesome video. The majority leader doesn’t want to vote on that. That’s actually something the American people are focused on.”

Cruz and other conservatives say the Export-Import Bank amendment, amounts to corporate welfare, however the Senate voted 67-26 to attach a renewal of the bank charter to the Highway Bill, which had to pass. McConnell has been saying he would force a vote on the Export-Import Bank for weeks, both publicly and privately.

Top priority right now of Senate GOP establishment is reauthorizing an obscure corporate welfare program. Can you get any more out of touch?

— Justin Amash (@justinamash) July 26, 2015

The Obamacare defunding effort, which McConnell allowed in an effort to placate conservatives, failed to pass on party lines, 49-43. But, surely, McConnell knew that would happen before allowing it anyway. It needed 60 votes to pass, an unlikely scenario, and it would most certainly have caused the bill to get a presidential veto had it passed.

During Sunday’s session, McConnell blocked an amendment to defund Planned Parenthood, even though he previously said he wanted to defund the organization. He did agree to fast track a separate bill to defund Planned Parenthood, however he knows that would make it subject to filibuster by Democrats. 60 votes are needed to break a filibuster, and the GOP knows it doesn’t have that. It only takes 50 votes for inclusion.

So what does his silly standalone PP defunding bill accomplish? Nothing. It won’t pass. It needs 60. As an amdt it only needed a majority.

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) July 26, 2015

According to The Hill, McConnell said the Planned Parenthood amendment was not germane to the Highway Bill and that’s why it was blocked.

He also made the same determination for “Kate’s Law,” which was named after Kate Steinle, the woman who was shot and killed in San Francisco on July 1 by an illegal alien who had been deported five times and already had seven felony convictions. It would have imposed a mandatory five year prison term on any illegal alien convicted of a violent felony if they had been previously deported.

So those weren’t allowed, however he deemed the Export-Import Bank amendment and ObamaCare defunding “germane” to the highway bill? Huh? 

Senator Reid, who held the leadership position before McConnell, often used to use this tactic and he was criticized heavily by the Republicans when he did.

Senate elders across the board also gave Cruz a “smackdown” for his speech last week, where he called McConnell a liar. The lawmakers turned down his appeal to have his amendment to keep sanctions against Iran in place until they recognized Israel’s right to exist.

The amendment was ruled out of order last week. When the Senate’s presiding officer called on Sunday for someone to second Cruz’s motion for an appeal, not one other senator did, effectively putting Cruz on “time out” for his earlier accusations.

Cruz was unwavering however, saying the Senate Republican leaders were marching in lockstep with Senate Democrats on things like funding Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act), funding Planned Parenthood and refusing to tie and Iran nuclear deal to Iran’s recognition of Israel’s right to exist.

“They operate as a team, expanding Washington and undermining the liberty of the people,” Cruz said of Senate Democratic and Republican leaders.

“We’ve just seen something extraordinary on the Senate floor. The American people elected a Republican majority believing that a Republican majority would be somehow different from a Democratic majority in the United States Senate. Unfortunately, the way the current Senate operates, there is one party, the Washington party.”

Looks like it is the same old, same old up on Capitol Hill.

Photo by Voices Empower with Alice Linahan

Things got pretty heated on Thursday between the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which now Secretary of State John Kerry used to chair himself, and Kerry, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. Even the Democrats don’t seem to be sold on this whole deal.

Senator Bob Corker (R-Tennessee), who is the current Chair of the committee, told Kerry, “Not unlike a hotel guest that leaves only with a hotel bathrobe on his back, I believe you’ve been fleeced.” He later tried to soften that statement a bit on social media, by taking the “you” out and saying, “We’ve been fleeced.”

After that statement, Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-Maryland), the ranking Democrat on the committee, asked senators to leave out their emotions when debating this. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho) agreed, saying, “This should be done in a non-emotional way. But, that doesn’t mean we gotta leave common sense out of this, with all due respect.”

He later stated, “Anyone who believes this is a good deal really joins the ranks of the most naive people on the face of the Earth,” and followed up with “you guys have been bamboozled, and the American people are going to pay for it.”

This sent Senator Barbara Boxer (D-California) into a tailspin, naming other countries who participated in the negotiations and signed off on the deal and saying, “So my colleagues think that you were fleeced, that you were bamboozled, that means everybody was fleeced and bamboozled, everybody, almost everybody in the world?”

Following that scolding from Boxer, Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida), who is a candidate in the 2016 presidential primaries, said, “I hope the next president is somebody that will remove the national security waiver and re-impose the congressional sanctions passed by Congress, because this deal is fundamentally and irrevocably flawed.”

Kerry and Rubio seemed to spar a bit after this, with Kerry saying, “You know, I have listed to a long list of your objections here about it, but there is no alternative that you or anybody else has proposed…”

Rubio cut him off here by saying, “I sure have, Secretary Kerry!”

I especially enjoyed, and was impressed by, Rubio’s line of questioning to Kerry. Mostly because he brought up many of the questions and misgivings I have personally had about this deal, especially the fact that we are dealing with an evil nation who lies and cheats.

Despite their bluster and maneuvering at the United Nations, the Obama Administration admitted today what we already knew: the next president is under no legal or moral obligation to keep this flawed deal. This is President Obama’s deal with Iran, and our allies and adversaries alike should take careful notice about Secretary Kerry’s acknowledgment today about the limits of the agreement, the fact that neither the American people nor their elected representatives in Congress support this deal, and that if the next president returns America to its rightful indispensable role in the world, Iran will be dealt with quite differently than it has been during the Obama Administration.

This should have a chilling effect for any business thinking about investing in Iran and setting up operations there. This deal will not outlive this administration, and international businesses that move in to Iran in the coming months need to know they will lose everything if the next president chooses not to continue granting Iran the national security waiver this president is pursuing, or if Iran once again fails to keep its promises.

Today’s hearing also raises more questions about whether the American people and the world are supposed to believe the Obama Administration’s assurances on key aspects of the deal, or if we’re supposed to believe the actual text of the nuclear agreement. The agreement states very clearly that the U.S. would be obligated to help Iran against future efforts to sabotage its nuclear program, but Secretary Kerry said today that is absolutely not the case.

Iran is led by an evil regime that has never lived up to its previous international agreements, is currently involved in sponsoring terrorism and remains unrepentant in its desire to destroy the United States and Israel. Instead of legitimizing them and rewarding them as President Obama has done, we should be standing with our allies in opposition to Iran in word and deed.

The hearing was quite a sight to watch and I was left wondering what kind of three stooges show the President’s cabinet was having up there. I’m sorry, but I was left less than impressed by Kerry, Lew and Moniz. They all seemed utterly clueless, but at least Kerry was trying. The other two? I have no idea how in the world they ever got appointed to such high offices.

You can also watch the full hearing here.

What was even more interesting was the way the main stream media covered the hearings, later that day. ABC, NBC and the Spanish-language networks, Telemundo, Univision and MundoFox, all skipped the testimony from Kerry on the Iran deal, and CBS covered it in a short news brief and totally ignored false statements made by Kerry, who faced criticism by Senators on both sides of the aisle.

In the hearings, Kerry said that “nobody has ever talked about actually dismantling their entire program,” however he told Congress on December 10, 2013 that the State Department engaged the Iranian regime “because we know that it would hopefully help Iran dismantle it’s nuclear program.”

Kerry also suggested, as he has before, that inaction by the Bush administration tied Obama’s hands, however the International Atomic Energy Agency reports show that 75 percent of Iran’s centrifuges were installed under President Obama’s watch!

And, Kerry said on Thursday, that the administration “never uttered the words ‘anywhere, anytime’ nor was it ever part of the discussion that we had with the Iranians.” However, on April 6, White House adviser Ben Rhodes told CNN’s Jack Tapper, “Under this deal, you will have anywhere, anytime, 24/7 access as it relates to the nuclear facilities that Iran has.”

There was no mention of any of this on most news channels, and in the brief story on CBS the focus was more of a teaser for Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio’s upcoming appearance on Friday’s CBS This Morning, than an actual report on the hearings.

Photo credit: denishiza / Pixabay (Creative Commons CC0)