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? 

First things first. You need to use the weapon you purchased. You need to get used to how it feels, how to draw it from your holster, how to do reloads (mostly high stress situation reloads), and how to keep it serviceable. Let’s take a look at each of these.

• Learn how it feels: Get used to holding your weapon. If you are used to shooting a .45, but you just bought a Glock 26 for a conceal carry weapon you are going to have to get used to the way it handles and feels. It will be different drawing that weapon than it was drawing your .45. Most of these weapons have the capability of adding a dovetail, etc to make it fit your hand better. You can also purchase different grips to help with stability. This may seem like something very rudimentary and to be passed over, but it is a building block to being proficient with your weapon, and that along with solid shooting skills will give you an advantage.
• Holster draw: There are many different types of holsters on the market today for concealed carry, so we won’t go into every single one of them. Whatever you decide to get you need to practice drills with it. This should include just the basic draw from the concealed location (under the shirt, from the waistband, purse, etc) because this will help to build muscle memory. That is what you want to have, because in a gunfight or a scenario where you are being attacked you want to be able to go directly to where your weapon is with no hesitation. Fumbling around trying to find it or get it unholstered could be the difference between life and death. You need to find out where the best place to carry for you is, and that’s where you always need to carry and work from during training. Practice your holster draw in many different situations such as inclimate weather, drawing while on the ground (prone, side, and back positions), while doing a fast retreat from a bad situation, etc.
• Reloads: Reloading at the range is WAY different than reloading in a life or death situation. This brings up several points. Know how many rounds your magazines will hold! When you are in a firefight the first thing on your mind is not how many bullets you have put into your attackers, but it should be. One of the last things you want to have happen is that you run out of ammo and have to reload at an inconvenient time. You always want to reload behind cover, so try to find cover every chance you get! Try to find a way to have some sort of idea as to how many rounds you have fired. Next thing, always practice reloads in a stressful environment if you can. Practice doing it after you have run for a while and you heart rate is very high. Same as with the holster draw, practice reloads from the prone, side, and back positions. Another thing to think about is how many extra mags are you going to carry along with your weapon? You should consider carrying at least two extra mags on your person. They make concealed carriers for your mags as well. Typically mags need to be on the opposite side of your shooting hand. NEVER take your dominate shooting hand off the weapon! You always want to be ready to go!
• Serviceability: Knowing how your weapon works, what parts are what, and how to field strip and clean it are paramount. If your weapon is broken, missing parts, or is just so filthy that it will not operate correctly, then you are setting yourself up for disaster. Period. If you have parts on your weapon that are broken or missing, then replace them before you injure yourself or someone else unintentionally. There is nothing worse than an irresponsible gun owner. Make sure that your gun is CLEAN and lubricated properly, you are after all depending on this to defend the lives of you and your family, so keep it in working order. Learning to field strip your gun, clean it and lube it is the best thing you can do. You will see just how it works and it will get easier each time you do it. Please keep in mind, EVERY GUN IS ASSUMED TO BE LOADED UNTIL YOU PROVE IT IS NOT. NEVER CLEAN A WEAPON UNTIL YOU HAVE CLEARED IT AND REMOVED THE MAGAZINE AND ENSURED THAT THE CHAMBER IS EMPTY. MANY PEOPLE HAVE DIED FROM CARELESS MISTAKES.

I hope that this short article will help point you in the right direction when it comes to preparing yourself for being a CHL holder. As always, stay frosty out there! – Tango out!

• What do I have to protect?
• Is it information, or something physical I need to protect?
• Who or what are the threats I may face?

Now that we know what OPSEC is there is one thing we need to address if you are going to get serious about survival of your family should something catastrophic happen. The decisions that you make will be the very bedrock decision that you will make, and will affect everything you do from that point forward. You are going to have to do an honest inventory of the people in your life, friends and family included. Everyone uses what I like to call the atom model when it comes to their daily lives, whether they know they are or not. If you look at an atom it has a nucleus made up of protons and neutrons, think of these as your very close family. There are electrons moving all around the nucleus, think of these as close friends, regular friends, acquaintances, and people you do not know. Some of these electrons are close to the nucleus and some are not. Also, notice that they move in proximity to the nucleus at different times. They are not always close to the center. Think of this as people revolving in and out of your life. Friends that come and go, new people you meet, and sometimes people from within the nucleus itself drift out towards the edges.

The point I am trying to make is this; you are going to have to take a hard look at who you let within your inner circle, who rotates right around the outside of the nucleus, and who is way on the outer edges. Everyone cannot be in your inner circle. Who has your families best interests at heart are NOT always the ones that are the best choices. The ones that have proven that they can be trusted, and are actually going down the same path are the ones that you want in your inner circle. I am by no means saying that you should abandon your family and friends, but there is going to come a time when the protection of your family will become paramount, and you will want the ones around you that have prepared like you have and have proven themselves to be trustworthy. I know that these decisions will be difficult ones, my wife and I had to do the same thing, but in the end you will be glad that you did it. This is a very important step, so don’t skip it!

So, when I say are you putting the right people around you, what do I mean? If you are preparing your family by storing water, food, ammo, guns, etc. and you have a friend that has been your neighbor for 10 years, but you don’t know them other than the occasional talk while mowing the yard or the friendly wave, would they be someone that would be there for you in a catastrophic event? What if they do not prepare at all? What if one day they saw a bunch of your food and water in the garage and struck up a conversation about it? What if you told them you were preparing your family for any number of situations, and then when that catastrophic event happens, who do you think your  neighbor will be coming to see? An even better question is what will your neighbor who did nothing to prepare be willing to do for his family if things got really tough? Would they be willing to rob you, or worse, kill you for what you have. Now rewind back and think how OPSEC could have helped you in this situation. Even though your neighbor is nice, and you want to maintain a good relationship, there is no need for you to tip all your cards for them to see. Contrary to what society tells you today, it is still okay to be private about alot of things in your life. Your neighbor has no business knowing what goes on inside your life or your garage unless you want them to know. OPSEC starts with you. If you leave the garage open all the time your neighbor is inevitably going to see what you have in there. If you don’t want them to, then you need to be more disciplined about your OPSEC!

Graywolf is an excellent blogger on all things survival, and in one of his articles he said the following about OPSEC:

• First Law of OPSEC: “If you don’t know the THREAT, how do you know WHAT to protect?”
• Second Law of OPSEC: “If you don’t know WHAT to protect, how do you know you are PROTECTING it?”
• Third Law of OPSEC: “If you are not protecting it . . . THE ENEMY WINS!”

You can find Graywolf’s blog here.

So, you need to know your threats. Who is a threat where you live? Why are they a threat? You need to know what you are going to protect, whether it is information or something physical (such as the location of a safe with silver in it, or actual food and water storage). OPSEC is a very large subject to cover in one article, as there are many facets to a successful OPSEC plan. The main thing you need to take away from this article is that you need to start being discreet about what you are doing for your family as far as emergency plans are. Not just how much food and water you have, but also about things like communications plans/channels, times and routes that you may use to escape the area, etc.  The main thing is you need to start making a plan if you do not have one, because the last thing you want to do is be the other guy when the SHTF. Please respond with any questions you have at the bottom of this article, or you can reach me via PM for more in depth discussions about OPSEC on our Facebook page Its a tea party yall. Until next time – Tango out

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

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.

Texas Senator and Republican Presidential Candidate Ted Cruz accused his own Senate majority leader of being a liar from the Senate floor Friday, and said Republicans in charge of both houses of Congress has not changed things “one iota” because both parties serve the “Washington cartel.”

Cruz began his passionate and highly charged speech after McConnell added the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank to the highway-funding bill and prevented senators from adding more amendments. Cruz said that his vote for trade promotion authority, also known as fast track, was cast on the basis that McConnell assured him there was not a deal made with the Democrats to support the controversial Export-Import bank. Cruz said he asked McConnell the question during a private Senate Republican lunch.

“I sat in my office, I told my staff, the majority leader looked me in the eye and looked 54 Republicans in the eye,” Cruz said. “I cannot believe he would tell a flat-out lie, and I voted on those assurances that he made to each and every one of us. What we just saw today was an absolute demonstration that not only what he told every Republican senator, but what he told the press over and over and over again, was a simple lie.”

The Presidential hopeful called out Mitch McConnell for being corrupt and for being a liar. You don’t hear many politicians speaking out like that against people in their own party because they just want to keep the peace. Cruz is on fire and rightfully so. He was lied to and the lie influenced his vote.

Most of us agree that free trade is good for America and when we open up foreign markets, it helps American farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers. But TPA in this Congress has become enmeshed in corrupt Washington backroom deal-making, and there are serious concerns that it would open up the potential for sweeping changes in our laws that trade agreements typically do not include.

Since the Senate first voted on TPA, there have been two material changes. First, WikiLeaks subsequently revealed new troubling information regarding the Trade in Services Agreement, or TiSA, one of the trade deals being negotiated by Obama. Despite the administration’s public assurances that it was not negotiating on immigration, several chapters of the TiSA draft posted online explicitly contained potential changes in federal immigration law. TPA would cover TiSA, and therefore these changes would presumably be subject to fast-track. Let’s just say, thank you WikiLeaks for bringing that to our attention!

Second, TPA’s progress through the House and Senate appears to have been made possible by secret deals between Republican Leadership and the Democrats. When TPA first came up for a vote in the Senate, it was blocked by a group of senators, led by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), both of whom were conditioning their support on the unrelated objective of reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank.

“The Ex-Im Bank is a classic example of corporate welfare. It is cronyism at its worst, with U.S. taxpayers guaranteeing billions of dollars in loans for sketchy buyers in foreign nations. Ex-Im is scheduled to wind down on June 30. But powerful lobbyists in Washington want to keep the money flowing,” said Cruz.

Cruz said, “After witnessing several senators huddle on the floor the day of the TPA vote, I suspected that to get their votes on TPA, Republican Leadership had promised supporters of Ex-Im a vote to reauthorize the bank before it winds down.”

On that same day, Cruz directly asked Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) what precise deal had been cut to pass TPA. Visibly irritated, McConnell told Cruz and all the Republican colleagues that there was no deal whatsoever; rather, he simply told them they could use the ordinary rules to offer whatever amendments they wanted on future legislation.

Taking McConnell at his word that there was no deal on Ex-Im, Cruz voted yes on TPA because he believed the U.S. generally benefits from free trade, and without TPA historically there have been no free-trade agreements.

Cruz was surprised when the the vote went to the House and Nancy Pelosi led House Democrats to oppose TPA en masse. (Technically, they voted against TAA, which was wrapped into the deal on TPA.) House conservatives went to Speaker Boehner and said they could support TPA if Boehner agreed not to cut a deal with Democrats on Ex-Im, and just let the bank expire. Boehner declined this offer and it appears he made the deal with Democrats – presumably tossing in the Ex-Im Bank and also increasing tax penalties on businesses.

Moreover, it is known that the Speaker punished conservatives – wrongly stripping Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) of his subcommittee chairmanship, and reportedly threatening to strip other conservatives of their chairmanships.

“There’s too much corporate welfare, too much cronyism and corrupt dealmaking, by the Washington cartel. For too long, career politicians in both parties have supported government of the lobbyist, by the lobbyist, and for the lobbyist – at the expense of the taxpayers. It’s a time for truth. And a time to honor our commitments to the voters,” said Cruz.

“My staff told me, ‘He’s lying to you, we’ve been around here for a long time. He’s not telling you the truth,’” Cruz said. “I said, ‘I don’t see how I can’t take him at his word.’”

Cruz even compared McConnell to former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who frequently blocked debate.

“Now the Republican leader is behaving like the senior senator from Nevada,” Cruz said.

Cruz added that since Republicans have controlled both houses of Congress, they have passed the Obama-supported “cromnibus” bill, funded Obamacare, funded his executive immigration actions and approved Loretta Lynch as attorney general.

“Which one of these decisions would be one iota different if Harry Reid was still the leader?” Cruz said.

 

Photo by DonkeyHotey

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)

The Apache Holy Land has had special protections, since 1955, when then President Dwight D. Eisenhower decreed it closed to mining because of its cultural value. In 1971, President Richard M. Nixon renewed this ban. However, in December 2014, the United States Congress promised to hand the title of Oak Flat over to a private Australian-British mining company. This happened because a fine-print rider was added to the “must-pass” military spending bill – the National Defense Authorization Act – ultimately trading away the Indian Holy Land. In other words, for what may be the first time in history, Congress handed over a sacred Native American site to a foreign-owned company.

Ultimately, we can all assume that this sacred Holy Land will be destroyed as the firm, Resolution Copper Mining, will hollow out a chamber that, when it caves in, will leave a two-mile-wide, 1,000-foot-deep pit. Even by congressional standards, this deplorable and greedy land grab was completely anti-democratic. For more than a decade, the parcel that contains Oak Flat had been coveted by Resolution’s parent company, Rio Tinto, which was already mining an area surrounding the Holy Land for the high-value ores beneath it.

For at least 10 years, this deal has been in the works through campaign contributions and paid lobbyists working behind the scenes to bribe congressional leaders. And, as always, Congress caved for the payout. Basically, Resolution will trade 5,300 acres of private parcels owned by the company to the Forest Service in exchange for the 2,400 acres that include Oak Flat. And, the land can be mined without oversight. This swap has been attempted multiple times by Arizona members of Congress on behalf of the company and by sneaking it into the last minute National Defense Authorization Act, they were able to accomplish it – at the expense of the Apaches.

The list of contributors who pushed this deal through are:

• Rick Renzi – a former Republican representative who was sent to federal prison in February for three years for corruption related to earlier versions of the land-transfer deal.
• Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake of Arizona – the two who slipped in the giveaway language at the last minute in the National Defense Authorization Act at the 11th hour, utilizing a tactic that bypassed public scrutiny. Please note that since 2002, Flake has taken a total of $384,704 from the mining industry with a notable large sum of $170,602 in 2012 and $183,602 in 2014. And, McCain has taken a total of $268,700 since 2002.

It is important to know that Rio Tinto affiliates have been long term McCain campaign contributors and Flake was a paid lobbyist for Rio Tinto Rossing Uranium before being elected to Congress. Of course, McCain and others assert that the mining project will be a boost to the local economy in the area, however haven’t given any indication how many of the 1,400 “promised” jobs will actually be local citizens. And, incidentally, Rio Tinto has a history of “environmental devastation” with past endeavors. Certainly this is of no concern to McCain and Flake.

This back door deal by McCain and Flake clearly show they have no respect for the Native American culture or Apache religion in Arizona. The fact that they were motivated by money given to them from the mining company to allow precious public land to be destroyed and the Apache Indians to be brushed aside is deplorable. It is also very telling of their character. This is a new low in congressional corruption. And it is important to also point out that the way McCain and Flake worded the bill’s language is that simply, 60 days after the federal “environmental impact statement” is complete, the land will belong to Resolution. There is nothing in the bill to stop the swap no matter what the environmental study says.

Photo by armigeress